Built between 1868 and 1887, the cathedral was consecrated in 1888. It was damaged during the March 1920 massacre of Armenians of the city by Azerbaijanis and experienced a decades-long decline under Soviet rule. During the Nagorno-Karabakh War Azerbaijan used the cathedral as an armory, where hundreds of missiles were stored. It was restored in the aftermath of the war and reconsecrated in 1998. A landmark of Shusha and Karabakh, it has become an icon for the Karabakh Armenian cause. Standing 35 metres (115 ft) high, Ghazanchetsots is one of the largest Armenian churches in the world.

According to historical records a small basilica church stood on its place as of 1722.[5] In the 19th century, following the conquest of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire, Shusha was one of the largest cities in region. Thomas de Waal notes that it was larger and more prosperous than either Baku or Yerevan, the current capitals of Azerbaijan and Armenia, respectively.[6] The city was one of the major cities of Armenian cultural activity in the Caucasus, along with Tiflis.[7] According to Russian imperial data of 1886 the city had a mixed Armenian (57%) and Tatar (Azerbaijani) (43%) population of almost 27,000.[8] The earliest part of the current cathedral, the bell tower, was built in 1858, which financed by the Khandamiriants family.[5]

The foundation inscription.

The church's construction began in 1868 and was completed in 1887. Its name comes from Ghazanchi (present-day Qazançı), a village in Nakhichevan, migrants from which financed the church's construction. It was designed by Simon Ter-Hakobian(ts).[5] The church was consecrated on September 20, 1888[9][5] according to an inscription on upper part of the southern portal.[10] The inscription reads:[11]

By the blessing and grace of almighty God this miraculous sacred cathedral is built at the expense and with the donations of the parish of the church of Amenaprkich Ghazanchetsots of the city of Shushi, the construction has commenced in 1868 at the reign of the allpowerful emperor of all Russia Alexander II and the patriarchate of Gevorg IV and was completed in 1887 at the time of the coronation of the son of His Majesty the blessed emperor Alexander III and Catholicos Markar I, on September 20, 1888.

Ruins of Shusha and the damaged cathedral (in the background, in the center) in the aftermath of the 1920 massacre

The majority of the Armenian population of Shusha was massacred or expelled in March 1920. The cathedral was damaged and gradually declined. After the region came under Soviet control, due to the state atheist policies, it was eventually closed down in 1930,[9][4] and was turned into a granary in the 1940s. Its dome and part of the walls surrounding it were destroyed in the 1950s. It was then looted and its stones were used to build several upscale houses in the Azerbaijani part of the city. By the 1970s the cathedral "looked like it survived heavy shelling." Soviet and Azerbaijani authorities granted a permission to launch a restoration project of the cathedral in the 1980s under public pressure.[11] The restoration began in 1981 and continued until 1988 and was supervised by Volodya Babayan.[12][9][4] By 1987 only two of the four stone statues of angels on the bell tower had survived.[13]

Shusha's Armenian minority was expelled from the city when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in February 1988. The cathedral was turned into an armory by Azerbaijan.[12] According to Armenian political analyst Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan the cathedral was set on fire three times between 1988 and 1991 using car tires.[14] Azerbaijanis dismantled the stone statues of angels on the bell tower in 1989.[15] They reportedly sold off its bronze bell, which was later found in a market in Donetsk, Ukraine and was bought by an Armenian officer for 3 million rubles and sent it back to Armenia.[16] When Shusha was captured by Armenian forces on May 9, 1992, it was a turning point of the war. Prior to the fall of Shusha, Azerbaijani forces stored hundreds of boxes of Grad missiles as the cathedral was safe from potential Armenian bombardment.[17][18][19] Shusha was used as a base for shelling of Stepanakert, the largest city of Karabakh, with Grad launchers for several months.[20][21] Armenian volunteers, including noted activist Igor Muradyan, carried the wooden boxes of artillery and rocket shells out of the church immediately after the capture of the city.[22][23] The flag of Armenia was raised on top of the damaged dome by Armenian troops.[24] Melik-Shahnazaryan wrote that by the time of its capture "practically, only a stone skeleton had remained of the magnificent structure."[14] A foreign visitor noted that its "windows were missing but the interior was in reasonable condition."[23]

On August 23, 1992 Azerbaijani bombers attempted to target the church, however, no serious casualties were reported. Felix Corley suggested that the attempt was not of any military importance and "appeared to be a deliberate attempt to attack the Armenian heritage in Karabakh."[23]

The cathedral as seen in 2007 before the cleanup of the surrounding area

Restoration of the church began soon after its capture by Armenian forces. As of 1997 it was reportedly the only building being restored in Shusha.[25] Restoration works were primarily funded by Andreas Roubian, an Armenian Evangelical benefactor from New Jersey, who provided $110,000. Tens of thousands of dollars came from various Armenian diaspora communities and wealthy individuals.[12][26] Cleanup and furnishing were completed in May 1998.[12] The cathedral was reconsecrated on June 18, 1998 on the Feast of the Transfiguration by Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, the Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh.[27] The first Divine Liturgy at the restored cathedral took place on July 19 with attendance of Nagorno-Karabakh President Arkadi Ghukasyan and officials from Armenia. Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian read a letter sent by Catholicos Karekin I,[27] who did not attend due to health problems.[28]

Yulia Antonyan suggested that its reconstruction was "perceived more as a cultural process aimed at a restoration of the Armenian cultural heritage, a spiritual and physical 'rebirth' of the Armenian nation" and came to symbolize the rebirth of Shusha.[29] It now "towers, immaculate once more, above the ruined town," wrote Thomas de Waal in his 2003 book Black Garden.[30] Daniel Bardsley wrote that the cathedral is now "one of the few pristine-looking buildings in the city."[31]

On October 16, 2008 a mass wedding, sponsored by Levon Hayrapetyan, a Russian-based businessman from Karabakh, took place in Nagorno-Karabakh. Some 700 couples got married on that day, 500 of whom married at Ghazanchetsots and 200 at Gandzasar monastery.[32][33][34]

The bell tower

A sculpture of the angels on the bell tower of the cathedral (left) is depicted the coat of arms of Armenian-administered Shushi (right).

The cathedral's church is a domed basilica with four apsides.[40] It is 34.7 m (114 ft) long and 23 m (75 ft) wide.[10][c] Standing at a height of 35 m (115 ft),[10] it is one of the largest Armenian churches.[30][40][41] Its conical dome, the roof of which is metallic, is 17 m (56 ft) tall.[11][27] The church has three identical entrances from the west, south and north. There are ornamental reliefs on the portals and windows.[11] The church's floor plan is an imitation of that of Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's mother church.[9][41][42] The cathedral is seen as having combined both innovative techniques and well-established traditions of Armenian architecture.[42]

Both the church and the bell tower are built of white limestone.[9][30][43] The freestanding bell tower has three floors (levels) and contains two bells, the larger of which was cast in Tula, Russia in 1857.[12] Sculptures of angels blowing trumpets stand on the top of its first floor.[40]

The cathedral, along with Gandzasar monastery, is a symbol of history and identity for the Armenians of Karabakh. Novelist Zori Balayan noted that it was often recalled during the emergence of the Karabakh movement.[24] It has become a symbol of liberation of the city as perceived by Armenians[44] and a popular pilgrimage site for Armenians from Armenia and the diaspora.[45] Catholicos Karekin II called the cathedral a symbol of the Armenian liberation movement of Artsakh during a mass at the cathedral in 2016.[46] Furthermore, it is seen as a remnant of the 19th and early 20th century religious-cultural renaissance of Shusha.[47]

^Walker, Edward (2000). "No War, No Peace in the Caucasus: Contested Sovereignty in Chechnya, Abkhazia, and Karabakh". In Bertsch, Gary K.; Craft, Cassady; Jones, Scott A.; Beck, Michael. Crossroads and Conflict: Security and Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Routledge. p. 297. ISBN0-415-92273-9. ...Shusha, along with Tbilisi (Tiflis), was at one time one of the two main Armenian cities of the Transcaucasus...

^Gore, Patrick Wilson (2008). 'Tis Some Poor Fellow's Skull: Post-Soviet Warfare in the Southern Caucasus. iUniverse. p. 83. ISBN9780595486793. ...the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, which the shrewd Azeris had been using as their main ammunition depot, sure that it was safe from Armenian gunners.

^Cox, Caroline; Rogers, Benedict (2011). "Nagorno-Karabakh: 'We Must Always Love'". The Very Stones Cry Out: The Persecuted Church: Pain, Passion and Praise. A&C Black. p. 85. ISBN9780826442727. Soldiers had taken the now empty boxes which had contained the GRAD missiles out of the church...

^Antonyan, Yulia (2015). "Political power and church construction in Armenia". In Agadjanian, Alexander; Jödicke, Ansgar; van der Zweerde, Evert. Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN9781317691570. The reconstruction, or construction, of churches was perceived more as a cultural process aimed at a restoration of the Armenian cultural heritage, a spiritual and physical "rebirth" of the Armenian nation. Thus, among the first churches to be reconstructed were the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi (Karabakh) and the Amenaprkich (Lord Saviour) Church at Gyumri. Both churches were rebuilt to symbolize the rebirth of the cities, one of which devastated during the war...

^ abChorbajian, Levon; Mutafian, Claude; Donabedian, Patrick (1994). The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh. London: Zed Books. p. 84. ISBN1-85649-287-7. Thus when it was decided to construct the Cathedral of Our Savior, called Ghazanchetsots (one of the grandest churches in all of Armenia), in 1868–1888 in Shushi, it was to Etchmiadzin, the most important sanctuary for Armenians, that they looked for inspiration, at least for the plan.

^ ab"A Brief History of the Art and Architecture of Artsakh — Nagorno Karabakh". nkrusa.org. Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016. Artsakh's architecture of the nineteenth century is distinguished by a merger of innovation and the tradition of grand national monuments of the past. One example is the Cathedral of the Holy Savior also known as Ghazanchetzotz (1868-1888). It stands in Artsakh's former capital of Shushi, and is among the largest Armenian churches ever erected. The cathedral's architectural forms were influenced by the designs of the ancient cathedral of St. Echmiadzin (4th-9th centuries), center of the Armenian Apostolic Church located to the west of Armenia's capital of Yerevan.

^Tchilingirian, Hratch (1998). "Religious Discourse on the Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh"(PDF). Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe. George Fox University. 18 (4). Between 1820 and 1930, Karabakh was a hub of vibrant religious and cultural life. [...] A remnant of this religious-cultural renaissance is the famous Cathedral of Our Saviour (1868-1887) in the Kazanchetsots neighborhood of Shushi (Lalayan 1988 and Ter Gasbarian 1993).

1.
Shusha
–
Shusha, or Shushi, is a city in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, however, it is a de jure part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the status of an administrative division of the surrounding Shusha Rayon. Situated at an altitude of 1, 400–1,800 metres in the picturesque Karabakh mountains, according to some sources the town of Shusha was founded in 1752 by Panah Ali Khan. Other sources suggest that Shusha served as a town and an ancient fortress in the Armenian principality of Varanda during the Middle Ages, from the mid-18th century to 1822 Shusha was the capital of the Karabakh Khanate. The town became one of the centers of the South Caucasus after the Russian conquest of the Caucasus region in the first half of the 19th century over Qajar Iran. Over time, it became a city and a home to many Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets, writers and especially, along with Tbilisi, it was one of the two main Armenian cities of the Transcaucasus and the center of a self-governing Armenian principality from medieval times through the 1750s. Throughout modern history the city mainly fostered a mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani population, after the capture of Shusha in 1992 by Armenian forces, its population diminished dramatically again and is now almost exclusively Armenian. The Gospel was created in Shusha by the calligrapher Ter-Manuel in 1428, panin, the Georgian king Erekle II documented that there was an ancient fortress which was conquered, through deceit, by one man from the Muslim Jevanshir tribe. The same information about the ancient fortress is confirmed by the Russian Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov in his letter to Prince Grigory Potemkin, when discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy (Russian, С. Броневский implied in his Historical Notes that Shusha was a possession of the Melik-Shahnazarian clan, Russian historian P. G. Butkov (Russian, П. The mid-18th century foundation is supported by Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Melik Shahnazar of Varanda, who was the first of the Armenian meliks to accept the suzerainty of Panah Ali Khan, Panah khan resettled to Shusha the population of Shahbulag and some nearby villages, and built strong fortifications. During the rule of Ibrahim-Khalil khan, the son of Panah Ali khan, although Panah Ali khan has been in conflict with Nader Shah, but the new ruler of Persia, Adil Shah, issued a firman recognizing Panah Ali as the Khan of Karabakh. Less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh Khanate was attacked by Muhammed Hassan khan Qajar, during the Safavid Empire Karabakh was for almost two centuries ruled by Ziyad-oglu family of the clan of Qajars, and therefore, Muhammed Hassan khan considered Karabakh his hereditary estate. Muhammed Hassan khan besieged Shusha but soon had to retreat, because of the attack on his territory by his opponent to the Iranian throne. His retreat was so hasty that he left his cannons under the walls of Shusha fortress. Panah Ali khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Muhammad Hassan khan, in 1756 Shusha and the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack from Fatali khan Afshar, ruler of Urmia. With his 30,000 strong army Fatali khan also managed to support from the meliks of Jraberd and Talish

2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

3.
Armenian Apostolic Church
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The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian communities, Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in the early 4th century. The church claims to have originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and it is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Orthodox Church or Gregorian Church. It is also known as the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church believes apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, according to legend, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in 30 AD. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the virgin Mary, Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, ancient Armenias adoption of Christianity as a state religion has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as probably the most crucial step in its history. This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence, other scholars as well have stated that the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids. When King Trdat IV made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 301 and 314, it was not a new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, while meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross and he was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the kings help he did so in accord with his vision and he renamed the city Etchmiadzin, which means the place of the descent of the only-begotten. Initially the Armenian church participated in the church world. Its Catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea and the First Council of Constantinople, although unable to attend the Council of Ephesus, the Catholicos Isaac Parthiev sent a message agreeing with its decisions. Christianity was strengthened in Armenia in the 5th century by the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language by the theologian, monk. Before the 5th century, Armenians had a language

4.
Rite
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A rite or ritual is an established, ceremonial, usually religious, act. Within Christianity, rite often refers to what is called a sacrament. In Roman Catholicism, for example, the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is one of the three that are referred to as the last rites, because they are administered to someone who was dying. The other two are Penance and Eucharist, since the Second Vatican Council, Anointing of the Sick is administered to those who are seriously ill but not necessarily in immediate danger of death. The term rite became widely used after the Second Vatican Council when the traditional sacraments were done away with, while rite is often used synonymously with sacrament, it is technically incorrect to say that one received a rite because the sacrament is what is received. The ritual consists of the prayers and actions that the minister of the sacrament performs when administering a sacrament. Therefore, it is incorrect to say one has received the last rites as that person has really received the last sacraments by a minister following a ritual that has performed the sacramental rite. The word rite is often applied to what are sometimes known as the five lesser sacraments, confirmation, reconciliation, matrimony, holy orders. The term rite refers to a body of liturgical tradition usually emanating from a specific center. Examples include the Roman Rite, the Byzantine Rite, and the Sarum Rite, such rites may include various sub-rites. For example, the Byzantine Rite has Greek, Russian, for a full list of Christian liturgical rites, see Christian liturgy. Of these, the largest is the Latin Rite or Western Church, there are also several Eastern Catholic Churches or Rites. For a full list of Catholic liturgical rites, see List of Catholic rites and churches, in North America, Freemasons have the option of joining the Scottish Rite and/or the York Rite, two appendant bodies that offer additional degrees to those who have taken the basic three. Ambrosian Rite Ceremony Chaldean rite Process Art Rites, a Confucian philosophical concept Ritual Primitive Scottish Rite Rite of Spring

5.
Armenian Rite
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The Armenian Rite is an independent liturgy used by both the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic Churches. It is also the used by a significant number of Eastern Catholic Christians in the Republic of Georgia. The liturgy is patterned after the directives of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, founder, the Armenians are the only Eastern Church using wine without added water. The Armenians use unleavened bread for the Eucharist, from all the Armenian language anaphoras the only one currently in use is the anaphora of Athanasius of Alexandria. It became the standard anaphora of the Armenian church before the end of the 10th century and is a translation of the Greek version. In research it is attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus, or to an older version of the Armenian anaphora of St. Basil or seen as a composite text. Oriental Orthodox Churches Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholics New Catholic Dictionary, Armenian Rite

6.
Architect
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An architect is someone who plans, designs, and reviews the construction of buildings. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, practical, technical, and academic requirements for becoming an architect vary by jurisdiction. The terms architect and architecture are used in the disciplines of landscape architecture, naval architecture. In most jurisdictions, the professional and commercial uses of the terms architect, throughout ancient and medieval history, most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans—such as stone masons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Until modern times, there was no distinction between architect and engineer. In Europe, the architect and engineer were primarily geographical variations that referred to the same person. It is suggested that various developments in technology and mathematics allowed the development of the gentleman architect. Paper was not used in Europe for drawing until the 15th century, pencils were used more often for drawing by 1600. The availability of both allowed pre-construction drawings to be made by professionals, until the 18th-century, buildings continued to be designed and set out by craftsmen with the exception of high-status projects. In most developed countries, only qualified people with appropriate license, certification, or registration with a relevant body, such licensure usually requires an accredited university degree, successful completion of exams, and a training period. To practice architecture implies the ability to independently of supervision. In many places, independent, non-licensed individuals may perform design services outside the professional restrictions, such design houses, in the architectural profession, technical and environmental knowledge, design and construction management, and an understanding of business are as important as design. However, design is the force throughout the project and beyond. An architect accepts a commission from a client, the commission might involve preparing feasibility reports, building audits, the design of a building or of several buildings, structures, and the spaces among them. The architect participates in developing the requirements the client wants in the building, throughout the project, the architect co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists, are hired by the client or the architect, the architect hired by a client is responsible for creating a design concept that meets the requirements of that client and provides a facility suitable to the required use. In that, the architect must meet with and question the client to ascertain all the requirements, often the full brief is not entirely clear at the beginning, entailing a degree of risk in the design undertaking. The architect may make proposals to the client which may rework the terms of the brief

7.
Architectural style
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An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, styles therefore emerge from the history of a society. They are documented in the subject of architectural history, at any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, one example is the Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style. After a style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur, for instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different, the Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the Mission Revival, and that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival. Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately and it is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, as western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded due to new technology and to national building standards. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and this type of art history is also known as formalism, or the study of forms or shapes in art. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature. In architecture stylistic change often follows, and is possible by. While many architectural styles explore harmonious ideals, Mannerism wants to take style a step further and explores the aesthetics of hyperbole, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favours compositional tension and instability rather than balance and clarity, the definition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continues to be the subject of debate among art historians. An example of mannerist architecture is the Villa Farnese at Caprarola. in the country side outside of Rome. The proliferation of engravers during the 16th century spread Mannerist styles more quickly than any previous styles, a center of Mannerist design was Antwerp during its 16th-century boom. Through Antwerp, Renaissance and Mannerist styles were introduced in England, Germany. During the Mannerist Renaissance period, architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid, the Renaissance ideal of harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative rhythms

8.
Armenian architecture
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Armenian architecture comprises architectural works with an aesthetic or historical connection to the Armenian people. The greatest achievement of Armenian architecture is generally agreed to be its medieval churches, a composite roof composed of finely-cut tuff shingles Frescoes and carvings, if present, are usually ornate and include swirling intertwining grapevines and foliage. Heavy use of tall structural arches, both for supporting the cupola as part of the drum, the ceiling, and the vertical walls. Roofs intersecting to support the dome, both in basilicas and centrally-planned churches, sculptural decoration of external walls, including figures. Within the bounds of the common characteristics, individual churches display considerable variation which may reflect time, place. Armenian buildings tend to be rather low-slung and thick-walled in design, Armenia has abundant resources of stone, and relatively few forests, so stone was nearly always used throughout for large buildings. Small buildings and most residential buildings were constructed of lighter materials. The stone used in buildings is typically quarried all at the same location, in cases where different color stone are used, they are often intentionally contrasted in a striped or checkerboard pattern. Powder made out of stone of the same type was often applied along the joints of the tuff slabs to give buildings a seamless look. Unlike the Romans or Syrians who were building at the same time, Armenian architecture employs a form of concrete to produce sturdy buildings. It is a mixture of mortar, broken tuff. As the wet mortar mixture dries it forms a strong concrete-like mass sealed together with the tuff around it and, due to tuffs properties, frescos of marble or another stone were often affixed to the side of these buildings, usually at a later date. The gradual development of Armenian architecture, during the third millennium B. C, prehistoric Armenian architecture was already distinctive. The most common feature of this form of architecture was its groundwork, an example of such architecture can be found in Nakichevans Gyul-Tepe. These buildings were approximately 6–7 metres wide and 5 or so high, urban architectural traditions, and other forms of art in the years before Christ continued to develop and later were partily influenced by Greco-Roman art. Urartian architecture is known for its use of intricately cut rocks, used as foundations for mud brick buildings, usually constructed in a compact manner. Urartian temples had massive walls at lower levels and a relatively small interior space, usually square. Higher levels were in mud brick, which has not survived, garni includes local elements of sacred numerology and geometry

9.
Armenian language
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The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Like Hellenic Greek, it has its own branch in the language tree. It is the language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It has historically been spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands and today is spoken in the Armenian diaspora. Armenian has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages and it is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups, Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to an extent by Greek, Persian. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible and he is also credited by some with the creation of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. In The Anabasis, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. W. M. However, unlike shared innovations, the retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two meant that Iranian and Armenian were the same language. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian vocabulary. Meillets hypothesis became popular in the wake of his Esquisse, eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC

10.
Republic of Artsakh
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Nagorno-Karabakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh, is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus. The region is considered by the UN to be part of Azerbaijan, the dispute was largely shelved after the Soviet Union established control over the area and created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. During the fall of the Soviet Union, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 1991, a referendum held in the NKAO and the neighbouring Shahumian region resulted in a declaration of independence. Large-scale ethnic conflict led to the 1991–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended with a ceasefire that left the current borders, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a semi-presidential democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its reliance on Armenia means that in many ways it functions de facto as part of Armenia, the country is very mountainous, averaging 1,097 metres above sea level. The population is predominantly Christian, most being affiliated with the Armenian Apostolic Church, several historical monasteries are popular with tourists, mostly from the Armenian diaspora, as most travel can take place only between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is a democracy, whereby the executive power resides with both the President and the Prime Minister. The president is elected for a maximum of two-consecutive five-year terms. The current President is Bako Sahakyan, in the most recent presidential elections, held on 19 July 2012, Sahakyan was reelected to a second term. The President appoints a potential Prime Minister who is approved by a majority vote in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature and it has 33 members who are elected for 5-year terms. Three organisations have members in the parliament, the Democratic Party of Artsakh has 18 members, Free Motherland has 8 members, Nagorno-Karabakh is heavily dependent on Armenia, and in many ways de facto functions and is administered as part of Armenia. On 3 November 2006, the then-President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkadi Ghukasyan and it was held on 10 December of the same year and voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution. According to official results, with a turnout of 87. 2%. The First article of the document describes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a sovereign, more than 100 non-governmental international observers and journalists who monitored the poll evaluated it positively, stating that it was held to a high international standard. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis asserted that the poll will not be recognized, and is therefore of no consequence. The outcome was also criticised by Turkey, which traditionally supports Azerbaijan because of common ethnic Turkic roots, another referendum was held on 20 February 2017, with a 87. 6% vote in favour on a 76% turnout for instituting a new constitution. The new name implies a claim to the areas controlled beyond the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the referendum is seen as a response to the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes

11.
Diocese of Artsakh
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Diocese of Artsakh is one of the largest dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church covering the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It is named after the province of Artsakh, the 10th province of the Kingdom of Armenia. The diocesan headquarters are located on Ghazanchetots street 72, in the town of Shushi, the seat of the bishop is the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral. The diocese was established in 1989, since its creation, archbishop Pargev Martirosyan has served as its primate. All churches in Karabakh were closed in the 1930s by the Soviet government, the totalitarian regime was relatively relaxed by Mikhail Gorbachev. A mass movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia started in February 1988, with Armenian national identity in rise in the Soviet Union, the Diocese of Artsakh was established in 1989. The 13th century Gandzasar monastery was the first one to be reopened and it remains the historic center of the Diocese of Artsakh, while the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral is the administrative center of the diocese

12.
Shusha massacre
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The event took place between 22 and 26 March 1920, and had as its background a conflict over competing claims of ownership of the region by Armenia and Azerbaijan. It resulted in the destruction of the Armenian-populated quarters of Shusha. At the end of the First World War, the ownership of the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh was disputed between the newly founded republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Shusha – the territorys largest settlement, its capital, and with a population consisting mostly of ethnic Armenians. The government of Azerbaijan proclaimed in Baku about the annexation of the territory and, on January 15,1919, appointed Khosrov bek Sultanov. An ardent pan-Turkist, a friend of the Ittihadists of Constantinople, britain agreed to Sultanovs appointment as a provisional governor, but insisted that a final decision on the territorys ownership should be decided only at a future Peace Conference. On April 23,1919 the National Council of Karabagh met again in Shusha and rejected again Azerbaijans claim of sovereignty, after this, a local Azerbaijani detachment encircled the Armenian quarters of Shusha, demanding the inhabitants to surrender fortress. Shots were fired, but when the British mediated, Armenians agreed to surrender to them, on the 4 and 5 June 1919, armed clashes occurred in Shusha between the two communities and Sultanov began a blockade of the towns Armenian quarters. American nurses working in Shusha for Near East Relief wrote of a massacre by Tartars of 700 of the Christian inhabitants of the town, a cease-fire was quickly organised after the Armenian side agreed to Sultanovs condition that members of the Armenian National Council leave the town. The seventh Congress of the Armenians of Karabagh was convened in Shusha on August 13,1919, on February 19,1920 Sultanov issued a demand that the Armenian National Council of Karabagh urgently to solve the question of the final incorporation of Karabagh into Azerbaijan. Armenians of Karabakh prepared a revolt against the Azerbaijani power, according to Richard Hovannisian, the failure at Khankendi sealed the doom of Shusha. As planned, the Varanda militia entered Shushi on the evening of March 22, supposedly to receive its pay and that same night, about 100 armed men led by Nerses Azbekian slipped into the city to disarm the Azerbaijani garrison in the Armenian quarter. It was only then that the Varanda militiamen were roused and began seizing Azerbaijani officers quartered in Armenian homes. The confusion on both sides continued until dawn, when the Azerbaijanis learned that their garrison at Khankend had held and, heartened, the fighting took the Armenians of Shushi by surprise. Several thousand fled under cover of the fog by way of Karintak into the Varanda countryside. According to Richard Hovannisian, Azerbaijani troops, joined by the city’s Azerbaijani inhabitants, the chief of police, Avetis Ter-Ghukasian, was turned into a human torch, and many intellectuals, including Bolshevik Alexander Tsaturyan, were among the 500 Armenian victims. According to the description of Azerbaijani communist Odzhakhkuli Musayev, a destruction of defenceless women, children, old women. Armenians were exposed to a mass slaughter, and what beautiful Armenian girls were raped and then shot

13.
Nagorno-Karabakh War
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Inter-ethnic clashes between the two broke out shortly after the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in Azerbaijan voted to unify the region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the result of a territorial conflict regarding the land. Full-scale fighting erupted in the winter of 1992. International mediation by several including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself, a Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994, but regular peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group have failed to result in a peace treaty. As many as 230,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia, the territorial ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh today is still heavily contested between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The current conflict has its roots in events following World War I, shortly before the Ottoman Empires capitulation in the war, the Russian Empire collapsed in November 1917 and fell under the control of the Bolsheviks. Fighting soon broke out between the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in three regions, Nakhchevan, Zangezur and Karabakh itself, in Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan quarreled about the boundaries of the three provinces. The Karabakh Armenians attempted to declare their independence but failed to contact with the Republic of Armenia. British troops occupied the South Caucasus in 1919, and the British command suggested Andranik cease his offense, afterward, the British provisionally affirmed Azerbaijani statesman Khosrov bey Sultanov as the governor-general of Karabakh and ordered him to squash any unrest in the region. Afterward followed the Shusha massacre of an estimated 20,000 Armenians, Two months later however, the Soviet 11th Army invaded the Caucasus and within three years, the Caucasian republics were formed into the Transcaucasian SFSR of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks thereafter created a committee, the Caucasus Bureau. Under the supervision of the Peoples Commissar for Nationalities, the future Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was created in 1923, leaving it with a population that was 94% Armenian. The reversal was substantiated with the connections the region had with Azerbaijan. The capital was moved from Shusha to Khankendi, which was renamed as Stepanakert. Armenian and Azerbaijani scholars have speculated that the decision was an application of the principle of divide and this can be seen, for example, by the odd placement of the Nakhichevan exclave, which is separated by Armenia but is a part of Azerbaijan. Others have also postulated that the decision was a gesture by the Soviet government to help maintain good relations with Atatürks Turkey

14.
Caucasus
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The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europes highest mountain, politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The region is known for its diversity, aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian. Pliny the Elders Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis, German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis also means ice. According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the South Caucasus region and southern Dagestan were the furthest points of Persian expansions, with areas to the north of Caucasus Mountains practically impregnable. The mythological mountain of Qaf, the worlds highest mountain that ancient lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region, therefore, the Caucasus might be associated with the legendary mountain. The Ciscaucasus contains the majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are in South Caucasus. The main Greater Caucasus range is generally perceived to be the line between Asia and Europe. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus in the western Ciscaucasus in Russia, the Caucasus is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions on Earth. The nation states that comprise the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia, Armenia, three territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful or by no independent states, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognised by the majority of independent states as part of Georgia, the Russian divisions include Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the autonomous republics of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. The region has many different languages and language families, there are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. Russian is used as a common language, today the peoples of the Northern and Southern Caucasus tend to be either Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, or Sunni Muslims. Shia Islam has had many adherents historically in Azerbaijan, located in the part of the region. Located on the peripheries of Turkey, Iran, and Russia, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, throughout its history, the Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world

15.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation

16.
Thomas de Waal
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Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is best known for his 2003 book Black Garden, Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace, Thomas was born in Nottingham, England. He is the son of Esther Aline, a writer on religion and he is the brother of Africa specialist Alex de Waal, barrister John de Waal, and potter and writer Edmund de Waal. Thomas de Waal graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a First Class Degree in Modern Languages and he has reported for, amongst others, the BBC World Service, the Moscow Times, and The Times. He was a Caucasus editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London until December 2008, currently he is a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specialising primarily in the South Caucasus region. He is the co-author of Chechnya, Calamity in the Caucasus and author of Black Garden, Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace, de Waal believes that his visa denial was retaliation for his critical reporting about the Russian war in Chechnya. De Waal wrote the introduction to Anna Politkovskayas first book in English, de Waals book on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was generally well received. According to Foreign Affairs journal review of Black Garden, de Waal offers a deeper, one likely to exercise give-no-quarters partisans on both sides. Transitions online analyst Richard Allen Greene added, This book will undoubtedly infuriate partisans on both sides of the conflict and he is cautious, meticulous and even-handed, and the breadth of his research is remarkable. Parameters journal review states, Thomas de Waal, noted British journalist and specialist on the Caucasus, has, a book that is both a poignant chronicle and a lucid, evenhanded analysis of the intricacies of this conflict. Neal Ascherson in his review of Black Garden in The New York Review of Books refers to de Waal as a wise and patient reporter, in January 2009 Thomas de Waal published an analytical report titled The Karabakh Trap, Threats and Dilemmas of the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict. Meanwhile, it seems to him that he and his like will not be responsible for anything, great Catastrophe, Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide. Black Garden, Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, Thomas de Waals Black Garden, a critical review by Alexander Manasyan

17.
Baku
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Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 28 metres below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and it is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. At the beginning of 2009, Bakus urban population was estimated at just over two million people, officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in Bakus metropolitan area. Baku is divided into administrative districts and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, the Inner City of Baku, along with the Shirvanshahs Palace and Maiden Tower, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planets ranking, Baku is also among the top ten destinations for urban nightlife. The city is the scientific, cultural and industrial center of Azerbaijan, many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is capable of handling two million tons of general and dry bulk cargoes per year, in recent years, Baku has become an important venue for international events. The city is renowned for its winds, which is reflected in its nickname. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and this is also reflected in the citys nickname as the City of Winds. A less probable folk etymology explains the name as deriving from Baghkuy, baga and kuy are the Old Persian words for god and town respectively, the name Baghkuy may be compared with Baghdād in which dād is the Old Persian word for give. Arabic sources refer to the city as Baku, Bakukh, Bakuya, around 100,000 years ago, the territory of modern Baku and Absheron was savanna with rich flora and fauna. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone age, from the Bronze age there have been rock carvings discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish discovered in the territory of the Old City. These have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze Age settlement within the citys territory, further archeological excavations revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it. In the 1st century, the Romans organized two Caucasian campaigns and reached Baku, near the city, in Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from 84–96 AD were discovered. This is one of the earliest written evidences for Baku, during the 8th century Baku was the realm of the Shirvanshahs. The city frequently came under assault of the Khazars and the Rus, shirvanshah Akhsitan I built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled another Rus assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck Shamakhy, the capital of Shirvan, the Shirvan era greatly influenced Baku and the remainder of Azerbaijan

18.
Yerevan
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Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia as well as one of the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural and it has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia, and the seventh located in or around the Ararat plain. The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, Erebuni was designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital. During the centuries long Iranian rule over Eastern Armenia that lasted from the early 16th century up to 1828, in 1828, it became part of Imperial Russia alongside the rest of Eastern Armenia which conquered it from Iran through the Russo-Persian War between 1826 and 1828. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire settled in the area, the city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became part of the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the population of Yerevan was 1,060,138, according to the official estimate of 2016, the current population of the city is 1,073,700. Yerevan was named the 2012 World Book Capital by UNESCO, Yerevan is an associate member of Eurocities. One theory regarding the origin of Yerevans name is the city was named after the Armenian king, Yervand IV, the last leader of the Orontid Dynasty, and founder of the city of Yervandashat. However, it is likely that the name is derived from the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni. As elements of the Urartian language blended with that of the Armenian one, while looking in the direction of Yerevan, after the ark had landed on Mount Ararat and the flood waters had receded, Noah is believed to have exclaimed, Yerevats. In the late medieval and early periods, when Yerevan was under Turkic and later Persian rule. This name is widely used by Azerbaijanis. The city was known as Erivan under Russian rule during the 19th. The city was renamed back to Yerevan in 1936, up until the mid-1970s the citys name was spelled Erevan, more often than Yerevan, in English sources. The principal symbol of Yerevan is Mount Ararat, which is visible from any area in the capital, the seal of the city is a crowned lion on a pedestal with the inscription Yerevan. The lions head is turned backwards while it holds a scepter using the front leg. The symbol of eternity is on the breast of the lion with a picture of Ararat in the upper part, the emblem is a rectangular shield with a blue border. On 27 September 2004, Yerevan adopted an anthem, Erebuni-Yerevan, written by Paruyr Sevak and it was selected in a competition for a new anthem and new flag that would best represent the city

19.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure

20.
Armenians
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Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands. Armenians constitute the population of Armenia and the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. There is a diaspora of around 5 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside of modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian Genocide, most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the worlds oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew, in the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, historically, the name Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people. It was first used by neighbouring countries of ancient Armenia, the earliest attestations of the exonym Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu as Armina (in Old Persian, Armina and Harminuya. In Greek, Αρμένιοι Armenians is attested from about the same time, xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians and it is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. Movses Khorenatsi, the important early medieval Armenian historian, wrote that the word Armenian originated from the name Armenak or Aram, the Armenian Highland lies in the highlands surrounding Mount Ararat, the highest peak of the region. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire, Mitanni, soon after Hayasa-Azzi were Arme-Shupria, the Nairi and the Kingdom of Urartu, who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland. Each of the nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains, yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I. T. Gamkrelidze and V. Ivanov proposed the Indo-European homeland around the Armenian Highland, eric P. Hamp in his 2012 Indo-European family tree, groups the Armenian language along with Greek and Ancient Macedonian in the Pontic Indo-European subgroup. In Hamps view the homeland of this subgroup is the northeast coast of the Black Sea and he assumes that they migrated from there southeast through the Caucasus with the Armenians remaining after Batumi while the pre-Greeks proceeded westwards along the southern coast of the Black Sea. However, fresh genetics studies explain Armenian diversity by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3,000 and ~2,000 b. c

21.
Azerbaijanis
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Azerbaijanis or Azeris, also known as Azerbaijani Turks, are a Turkic ethnic group in the Caucasus living mainly in Iranian Azerbaijan and the independent Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most numerous ethnic group among the Turkic peoples after Anatolian Turks and they are predominantly Shii Muslims, and have a mixed cultural heritage, including Turkic, Iranian, and Caucasian elements. They comprise the largest ethnic group in Republic of Azerbaijan and by far the second-largest ethnic group in neighboring Iran, the worlds largest number of ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Iran, followed by Azerbaijan. The formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 established the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, despite living on two sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution of Iranian Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijanis in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is believed to be named after Atropates, a Persian satrap who ruled in Atropatene circa 321 B. C. The name Atropates is the Hellenistic form of Aturpat which means guardian of fire, itself a compound of ātūr fire + -pat suffix for -guardian, -lord, present-day name Azerbaijan is the Arabicized form of Azarbaigān. The latter is derived from Ādurbādagān, itself ultimately from Āturpātakān meaning the land associated with Aturpat, the Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, written in the 1890s, also referred to Tatars in Azerbaijan as Aderbeijans, but noted that the term had not been adopted widely. In Azerbaijani language publications, the expression Azerbaijani nation referring to those who were known as Tatars of the Caucasus first appeared in the newspaper Kashkul in 1880, Ancient residents of the area spoke the Old Azeri, which belonged to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. In the 11th century AD with Seljukid conquests, Oghuz Turkic tribes started moving across the Iranian plateau into the Caucasus, the influx of the Oghuz and other Turkmen tribes was further accentuated by the Mongol invasion. Today, this Turkic-speaking population is known as Azerbaijani, caucasian-speaking Albanian tribes are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the region where the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan is located. Early Iranian settlements included the Scythians in the ninth century BC, following the Scythians, the Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the Aras River. Ancient Iranian people of the Medes forged a vast empire between 900 and 700 BC, which the Achaemenids integrated into their own empire around 550 BC, during this period, Zoroastrianism spread in the Caucasus and in Atropatene. Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenids in 330 BC, but allowed the Median satrap Atropates to remain in power, following the decline of the Seleucids in Persia in 247 BC, an Armenian Kingdom exercised control over parts of Caucasian Albania. Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the first century BC and largely remained independent until the Persian Sassanids made their kingdom a vassal state in 252 AD, sassanid control ended with their defeat by Muslim Arabs in 642 AD, through the Muslim conquest of Persia. Muslim Arabs defeated the Sassanids and Byzantines as they marched into the Caucasus region, the Arabs made Caucasian Albania a vassal state after the Christian resistance, led by Prince Javanshir, surrendered in 667. Between the ninth and tenth centuries, Arab authors began to refer to the region between the Kura and Aras rivers as Arran, during this time, Arabs from Basra and Kufa came to Azerbaijan and seized lands that indigenous peoples had abandoned, the Arabs became a land-owning elite. Conversion to Islam was slow as local resistance persisted for centuries and resentment grew as small groups of Arabs began migrating to cities such as Tabriz and this influx sparked a major rebellion in Iranian Azerbaijan from 816–837, led by a local Zoroastrian commoner named Bābak

22.
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,500 km2 with a population of 410,000, bordering Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, the area that is now Nakhchivan became part of the Safavid dynasty of Iran in the 16th century. In 1828, after the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, in June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for British occupation at the close of the First World War. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an area of Azerbaijan, governed by its own elected legislature. The region continues to suffer from the effects of the Armenia-Azerbaijan War, the administrative capital city is Nakhchivan. Vasif Talibov has been the leader since 1995, variations of the name Nakhchivan include Nakhichevan, Naxcivan, Naxçivan, Nachidsheuan, Nakhijevan, Nakhchawan, Nakhitchevan, Nakhjavan, and Nakhdjevan. Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by name in antiquity. Instead, he states the name evolved to Nakhchivan from Naxčawan. The prefix Naxč derives from Naxič or Naxuč and awan is Armenian for place, Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemys Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana. Armenian tradition says that Nakhchivan was founded by Noah, the oldest material culture artifacts found in the region date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Urartu and later Media and it became part of the Satrapy of Armenia under Achaemenid Persia c.521 BC. In 189 BC, Nakhchivan became part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I, within the kingdom, the region of present-day Nakhchivan was part of the Ayrarat, Vaspurakan and Syunik provinces. The areas status as a trade center allowed it to prosper, as a result. According to the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium, when the Sassanid Persians invaded Armenia, in 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623, possession of the passed to the Byzantine Empire. It happened in the province of Gokhtan, which corresponds to Nakhchivans modern Ordubad district, in 705, after suppressing an Armenian revolt, Arab viceroy Muhammad ibn Marwan decided to eliminate the Armenian nobility. In Nakhchivan, several hundred Armenian nobles were locked up in churches and burnt, the violence caused many Armenian princes to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia or the Byzantine Empire

23.
Donetsk
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Donetsk is an industrial city in Ukraine on the Kalmius River. The population was estimated at 929, 063 in the city, according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine. Since April 2014, the city is controlled by separatists from self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic. Administratively, it has been the centre of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the capital and largest city of the larger economic. Donetsk is adjacent to major city of Makiivka and along with other surrounding cities forms a major urban sprawl. Donetsk has been an economic, industrial and scientific centre of Ukraine with a high concentration of companies. The original settlement in the south of the European part of the Russian Empire was first mentioned as Aleksandrovka in 1779, under the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. In 1869, Welsh businessman, John Hughes, built a plant and several coal mines in the region. During Soviet times, the steel industry was expanded. In 1924, it was renamed Stalino, and in 1932 the city became the centre of the Donetsk region, renamed Donetsk in 1961, the city today remains the centre for coal mining and steel industry. Since April 2014, Donetsk and its surrounding areas have one of the major sites of fighting in the War in Donbass. The city was founded in 1869 when the Welsh businessman John Hughes built a plant and several coal mines at Aleksandrovka. In its early period, it received immigrants from Wales, especially the town of Merthyr Tydfil, by the beginning of the 20th century, Yuzivka had approximately 50,000 inhabitants, and had attained the status of a city in 1917. The main district of Hughezovka is named English Colony, and the British origin of the city is reflected in its layout, when the Russian Civil War broke out, on 12 February 1918 Yuzovka was part of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic. The Republic was disbanded at the 2nd All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on 20 March 1918 when the independence of the Soviet Ukraine was announced and it failed to achieve recognition, either internationally or by the Russian SFSR, and, in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was abolished. In 1924, under the Soviet rule, the name was changed to Stalin. In that year, the population totaled 63,708. In 1929–31 the citys name was changed to Stalino, the city did not have a drinking water system until 1931, when a 55.3 km system was laid underground

24.
Capture of Shusha
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It was named Wedding in the Mountains by the Armenian commandership. The seizure of the town proved decisive, however, some of the shelling was, according to the accounts of former residents, either indiscriminate or intentionally aimed at civilian targets. In February 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh had been an autonomous oblast for over seventy years inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. Following its governments decision to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia, after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Armenians and Azeris vied to take control of Karabakh with full-scale battles in the winter of 1992. By then, the enclave had declared its independence and set up an unrecognized, though self-functioning, a large scale population shift had also been in effect since the conflict began, with most of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan fleeing to Armenia and the Azerbaijanis in Armenia to Azerbaijan. The battle was preceded by the capture of the town. With the loss of Khojaly, Azeri commanders concentrated the rest of their firepower upon Stepanakert, on 26 January 1992 the Azerbaijani forces stationed in Shusha encircled and attacked nearby Armenian village Karintak attempting to capture it. This operation was conducted by Azerbaijan’s then defence minister Tajedin Mekhtiev and was supposed to prepare ground for future attack on Stapanakert, the operation failed as the villagers and the Armenian fighters strongly retaliated in self-defense. Mekhtiev was ambushed and up to seventy Azeri soldiers died, after this debacle, Mekhtiev left Shusha and was fired as defence minister. The Armenians to date celebrate the self-defence of Karintak as one of their early, Shusha sits on a mountaintop overlooking the NKRs highly populated capital, Stepanakert, from an elevation of 600m. An old fortress with walls, the town is five kilometers to the south of Stepanakert. From a geographical standpoint Shusha was well-suited for Azerbaijani shelling of Stepanakert, the main type of artillery used in the bombardment, which began on January 10,1992, was the Soviet-made BM-21 GRAD multiple rocket launcher, which was capable of firing 40 rockets in one volley. The GRAD launcher was similar to the World War II-era Katyusha in that it did not have a missile system. Essentially, the GRAD is designed to deliver anti-personnel devastation on an open battlefield, Shusha was the main fire point from where Stepanakert was assaulted. By one tally recorded in early April, a total of 157 rockets had landed on the city in a single day, by early 1992 the bombing intensified. In a course of one week the city was bombed with over 1,000 shells, in an article that appeared in TIME in April 1992, it was noted that scarcely a single building escaped damage in Stepanakert. In addition to the shelling, the Azeri military also launched air raids, while they were staved off numerous times, the citys leaders complained that military action had to be taken to relieve it from the continuous bombardment. On April 27, the military plans were approved to move in

25.
BM-21 Grad
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The BM-21 Grad, is a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher. The weapons system and the M-21OF rocket it fires were developed in the early 1960s, BM stands for boyevaya mashina, and the nickname grad means hail. The complete system with the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket is designated as the M-21 field rocket system, the complete system is more commonly known as a Grad multiple rocket launcher system. In NATO countries, the system was known as M1964. Several other countries have copied it or developed similar systems, the M-21 field rocket system with a BM-21 launch vehicle. The launch vehicle consists of a Ural-375D six-by-six truck chassis fitted with a bank of 40 launch tubes arranged in a shape that can be turned away from the unprotected cab. The vehicle is powered by a water-cooled V-8180 hp gasoline engine, has a road speed of 75 km/h, road range of up to 750 kilometers. The original vehicle together with supporting equipment is referred to by the GRAU index 9K51, in 1976, the BM-21 was mounted on the newer Ural-4320 six-by-six army truck. The three-member crew can emplace the system and have it ready to fire in three minutes, the crew can fire the rockets from the cab or from a trigger at the end of a 64-meter cable. All 40 rockets can be away in as little as 20 seconds, a PG-1M panoramic telescope with K-1 collimator can be used for sighting. The BM-21 can be packed up and ready to move in two minutes, which can be necessary when engaged by counter-battery fire, reloading is done manually and takes about 10 minutes. Each 2. 87-meter rocket is slowly spun by rifling in its tube as it exits, rockets armed with high explosive-fragmentation, incendiary, or chemical warheads can be fired 20 kilometers. Newer high explosive and cargo rockets have a range of 30 kilometers, warheads weigh around 20 kilograms, depending on the type. The number of rockets that each vehicle is able to bring to bear on an enemy target makes it effective. One battalion of eighteen launchers is able to deliver 720 rockets in a single volley, the system has lower precision than typical artillery and cannot be used in situations that call for pinpoint precision. It relies on a number of shells dissipating over an area for a certain hit rate on specific targets. Nonetheless, because of the warning time for the impact of the whole volley. BM-21, Original version known as the BM-21 launch vehicle, the launcher unit was mounted on a modified Ural-375D truck chassis

26.
Shelling of Stepanakert
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The bombardment of Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian towns and villages, which took place under the conditions of total blockade by Azerbaijan, caused widespread destruction and many civilian deaths. Human Rights Watch reported that the bases used by Azerbaijani armed forces for the bombardment of Stepanakert included the towns of Khojaly. Azerbaijani forces used weapons such as the BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, as a result of the offensive launched by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh more than 40,000 people became refugees, dozens of villages were burnt and ruined. According to Memorial Human Rights Center, the areas of both Stepanakert and Shushi were shelled on a regular basis with the use of artillery and rocket launchers. The indiscriminate bombardment of civilian areas stopped only after the suppression of Azerbaijani military outposts in the nearby town of Shusha by Armenian units on May 8–9,1992. Azerbaijan blockaded railroad lines and the delivery of oil and natural gas to Armenia, since the fall of 1991 the imposed blockade became full and continuous. The blockades shattered the Armenian economy, sparked social unrest and created a humanitarian crisis. Throughout the spring of 1992, Stepanakert was under siege - Azerbaijan had cut all the communication between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Stepanakert had no access by road to Armenia for almost two years and its link to the outside world was by helicopter across the mountains to Armenia. Thus many of its residents had been trapped there all that time. As a result of tightening of the blockade by Azerbaijan all essential supplies, including water, electricity, food, the Armenians living in Stepanakert had to spend almost the whole time sheltering in basements and cellars in appalling conditions. According to Human Rights Watch, It was in conditions of total blockade that Azerbaijan subjected Stepanakert to shelling. During the winter of 1991-92, Stepanakert was hit by artillery, in May 1992, when Helsinki Watch arrived to Stepanakert, the city had already suffered heavy destruction. On August 22–24 alone, Azerbaijani bombings had caused at least 40 civilian deaths, Helsinki Watchs report stated that the Azerbaijani shelling and bombing were reckless and indiscriminate, and aimed at terrorizing and forcing out Armenian civilians. Like previous Azerbaijani attacks on Stepanakert, the shelling and bombing throughout the counter-offensive, according to Caroline Cox, I used to count 400 Grad missiles every day pounding in on Stepanakert. The shelling aimed to intimidate and oust the Armenian civilian population from Karabakh, in the words of the State Secretary of Azerbaijan in 1992 Lala-Shovket Gajiyeva, For more than 100 days we were shelling Stepanakert, but the Armenians did not abandon their land. Geographically Stepanakert lay in the most vulnerable position, with Aghdam 15 miles to the East, Khojaly to the North, the Azeri controlled towns of Shushi and Khojalu were overlooking Stepanakert and were used as main bases for shelling and bombing the capital. Russian pilot Anatolii Chistiakov said that the Azerbaijanis routinely ask mercenary pilots to drop tear gas to cause panic among civilians

27.
Stepanakert
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Stepanakert or Khankendi, originally called Vararakn, is the capital and the largest city of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent republic, recognized as de jure part of Azerbaijan. As of 2015, the population of Stepanakert is 55,200, Stepanakert meaning the city of Stepan is named after the Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary Stepan Shaumian. The name is formed of the words Stepan and kert meaning town, according to medieval Armenian sources, the settlement was first mentioned as Vararakn, a name that remained in use until 1847, when it was renamed Khankendi. Azerbaijani sources generally say that the settlement was founded in the eighteenth century as a private residence for khans of the Karabakh Khanate. The settlement was initially called Khanin Kendi, but then was shortened to Khankendi, after the conquest of the Karabakh Khanate by the Russian Empire the name Khankendi was charted on Russian maps. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the regions most important city and its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978. Several schools and two polyclinics were established, and an Armenian drama theater was founded in 1932 and named after Maxim Gorky, Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakhs main economic hub, and by the mid-1980s there were nineteen production facilities in the city. The political and economic reforms that General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had initiated in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority, Armenians, in both Armenia proper and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachevs reform program as an opportunity to unite the two together. On February 20,1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakerts Lenin Square to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR, fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh which eventually resulted in Armenian control of the region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. Prior to the conflict, Stepanakert was the largest city of the NKAO, by early 1992, that figure had dropped to 50,000. So destructive was the caused by the incessant bombardment, that a journalist for Time noted in an April 1992 article that scarcely a single building escaped damage in Stepanakert. The Azerbaijani military staged several attacks against the city, which were successfully repulsed by Armenian forces. It was not until May 9,1992, with the capture of Shusha, the city, nevertheless, continued to suffer aerial bombardment for the remainder of the war. There has been an unofficial cease-fire observed since 1994, Stepanakert has a humid subtropical climate according to the Köppen climate classification system and a semi-arid climate according to the Trewartha climate classification system. In the month of January, the temperature drops to 0.5 °C. In August, it averages around 22.6 °C, during the Soviet era, there were no traditional churches in Stepanakert, although most of the population of the city were members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The late-19th-century church of Saint George was destroyed in the 1930s to build the Stepanakert Drama Theatre, currently, the church of Surp Hakob opened in 2007 is the only church of the city

28.
Igor Muradyan
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Igor Muradyan is an Armenian political activist and politologist. He was one of the earliest leaders of the Karabakh movement, along with Zori Balayan, Silva Kaputikyan, born in Nagorno-Karabakh, Muradyan grew up in Baku, where many Armenians lived during the Soviet period. He finished the Plekhanov Institute of National Economy in Moscow, according to Thomas de Waal, Muradian was a Soviet insider. He worked as an economist in the planning agency Gosplan in Yerevan and had good connections among Party cadres. de Waal. Black Garden, Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, New York, New York University Press

29.
Flag of Armenia
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The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolour, consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted the current flag on 24 August 1990, on 15 June 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia, governing its usage, was passed by the National Assembly of Armenia. Throughout history, there have many variations of the Armenian flag. In ancient times, Armenian dynasties were represented by different symbolic animals displayed on their flags, in the twentieth century, various Soviet flags represented the Armenian SSR. The meanings of the colors are interpreted in different ways. For example, red stands for the blood of the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide, blue is for the Armenian pure sky, the blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia, in 2012, the Armenian National Institute of Standards issued specifications about the construction and colors on the national flag. Todays tricolor flag bears little resemblance to the earliest Armenian flags, in ancient times, armies went into battle behind carvings mounted on poles. The carvings might represent a dragon, an eagle, a lion or some object of the gods. With the advent of Christianity, the Armenian empire adopted many different flags representing various dynasties, the Artaxiad Dynastys flag, for instance, consisted of a red cloth displaying two eagles gazing at each other, separated by a flower. After Armenia was split between the Persian and the Ottoman Empires, the idea of an Armenian flag ceased to exist for some time, alishans first design was very similar to todays Armenian flag, a horizontal tricolor. However, it looked more like a variation of the current flag of Bulgaria. While in France, Alishan also designed a flag, identified today as the Nationalist Armenian Flag. It too was a tricolor, but unlike the previous design and its colors were red, green, and blue, from left to right, representing the rainbow that Noah saw after landing on Mount Ararat. In 1828, Persian Armenia was annexed to the Russian Empire after the last Russo-Persian War, when the Russian Empire collapsed, Russian Armenia declared its independence and joined the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, together with Georgia and Azerbaijan. This unified state hardly lasted a year and was soon dissolved, since the Republic was short-lived, it did not use any flags or symbols. Nevertheless, some consider a horizontal gold, black, and red tricolor, similar to that of the German flag but arranged differently. The federation was dissolved on May 26,1918, when Georgia declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia

30.
Kanach Zham
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Kanach Zham is an Armenian Apostolic Church located in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, it is just uphill from the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral. Kanach Zham means Green Church in Armenian, this is because at one time the churchs domes were painted green and this church is also sometimes called by the name of the old church in its place Gharabakhtsots in honor of the farmers from Nagorno-Karabakh who built it. According to the inscription, the church was built in 1818 in the place of the former Gharabaghtsots wooden church. In the walls is placed the former churchs inscription, the dome of the ramparted church and its chapel are seen from very far. The church has a cruciform scheme, over the entry, crowned with chapel’s dome is carved the inscription, Babayan Stepanos Hovanes. In the memory of the deceased brother Mkrtich

31.
Evangelicalism
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Its origins are usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church, and German Lutheran Pietism. While all these phenomena contributed greatly, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening, today, Evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in the United Kingdom. The Americas, Africa, and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals, United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals in the world, its community forms a quarter of the population, is politically important and based mostly in the Bible Belt. In the United Kingdom, Evangelicals are mostly represented in the Methodist Church, Baptist communities, Evangelicalism, a major part of popular Protestantism, is among the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam. While on the rise globally, the world is particularly influenced by its spread. The first published use of evangelical in English came in 1531 when William Tyndale wrote He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth. One year later Sir Thomas More produced the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction when he spoke of Tyndale his evangelical brother Barns, during the Reformation, Protestant theologians embraced the label as referring to gospel truth. Martin Luther referred to the evangelische Kirche to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church, into the 21st century, evangelical has continued in use as a synonym for Protestant in continental Europe, and elsewhere. This usage is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Church in Germany, the term may also occur outside any religious context to characterize a generic missionary, reforming, or redeeming impulse or purpose. For example, the Times Literary Supplement refers to the rise, one influential definition of Evangelicalism has been proposed by historian David Bebbington. Conversionism, or belief in the necessity of being again, has been a constant theme of Evangelicalism since its beginnings. To Evangelicals, the message of the gospel is justification by faith in Christ and repentance, or turning away. Conversion differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian, and the change in life it leads to is marked by both a rejection of sin and a corresponding personal holiness of life. A conversion experience can be emotional, including grief and sorrow for sin followed by great relief at receiving forgiveness, the stress on conversion is further differentiated from other forms of Protestantism by the belief that an assurance of salvation will accompany conversion. Among Evangelicals, individuals have testified to both sudden and gradual conversions, biblicism is reverence for the Bible and a high regard for biblical authority. All Evangelicals believe in inspiration, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined

32.
Armenian diaspora
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The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside the Republic of Armenia including the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in regions throughout the world. In Armenian, the diaspora is referred to as spyurk, spelled սփիւռք in classical orthography, in the past, the word gaghut was used mostly to refer to the Armenian communities outside the Armenian homeland. It is borrowed from the Aramaic cognate of Hebrew galut, the Armenian diaspora has been present for over seventeen hundred years. The modern Armenian diaspora was formed largely after World War I as a result of the Armenian Genocide, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took the region of Western Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians were forced to flee to different parts of the world, through marriage and procreation, the number of Armenians in the diaspora who trace their lineage to those Armenians who survived and fled Western Armenia is now several million. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, approximately one million Armenians have joined the diaspora largely as a result of economic conditions in Armenia. Jivan Tabibian, an Armenian scholar and former diplomat in Armenia said, Armenians are not place bound, in the fourth century, Armenian communities already existed outside of Greater Armenia. Diasporic Armenian communities emerged in the Sassanid and Persian empires, in order to populate the less populated areas of Byzantium, Armenians were relocated to those regions. Some Armenians converted to Greek Orthodoxy while retaining Armenian as their language, a growing number of Armenians voluntarily migrated or were compelled to move to Cilicia during the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. After the fall of the kingdom to the Mamelukes and loss of Armenian statehood in 1375, up to 150,000 went to Cyprus, the Balkans, and Italy. Although an Armenian diaspora existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, it grew in size due to emigration from the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Russia, and the Caucasus. The Armenian diaspora is divided into two communities – those from Ottoman Armenia and those who are from the former Soviet Union, the independent Republic of Armenia and Iran. Armenians of the modern Republic of Turkey do not consider themselves as part of the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian diaspora grew considerably during and after the First World War due to dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Although many Armenians perished during the Armenian Genocide, some of the Armenians managed to escape, the total Armenian population living worldwide is estimated to be 11,000,000. Of those, approximately 3 million live in Armenia,130,000 in the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and 120,000 in the region of Javakhk in neighboring Georgia and this leaves approximately 7,000,000 in diaspora. Less than one third of the worlds Armenian population lives in Armenia, the table below lists countries and territories where at least a few Armenians live, with their number according to official data and estimates by various organizations and media. Estimates may vary greatly, because no data are available for some countries

33.
Feast of the Transfiguration
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The Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus is celebrated by various Christian communities. The origins of the feast are less certain and may have derived from the dedication of three basilicas on Mount Tabor. The feast was present in forms by the 9th century. In those Orthodox churches which continue to follow the Julian Calendar, the Transfiguration is considered a major feast, numbered among the twelve Great Feasts in Orthodoxy. In all these churches, if the feast falls on a Sunday, its liturgy is not combined with the Sunday liturgy, in some liturgical calendars the last Sunday in the Epiphany season is also devoted to this event. In the Church of Sweden and the Church of Finland, however, the Feast is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Trinity, in this sense, the transfiguration is also considered the Small Epiphany. The Transfiguration is ranked as one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical calendar, grapes are traditionally brought to church to be blessed after the Divine Liturgy on the day of the Transfiguration. If grapes are not available in the area, apples or some fruit may be brought. This begins the Blessing of First Fruits for the year, the Transfiguration is the second of the Three Feasts of the Saviour in August, the other two being the Procession of the Cross on August 1 and the Icon of Christ Not Made by Hand on August 16. The Transfiguration is preceded by a one-day Forefeast and is followed by an Afterfeast of eight days, in Eastern Orthodox theology, the Tabor Light is the light revealed on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration of Jesus, identified with the light seen by Paul on the road to Damascus. The Coptic Orthodox Church Celebrates the feast of transfiguration on 19 August, the feast is considered one of the 7 minor feasts of the church, and is celebrated in the joyful tune. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds the ceremony of Buhe on the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Old Catholic theological view of the Transfiguration shares much in common with the Eastern Orthodox perspective as stated above. Old Catholics also believe that the transfiguration was a event that revealed the divinity of Christ. The Transfiguration shows forth humanity in the splendor of its form when it was united in the life-giving love of the Triune God. This event reveals the possibility of humanitys theosis, if the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday, it replaces the ordinary liturgical Ordo of the season for Sacred Liturgy. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Transfiguration was once celebrated locally in parts of the Catholic world on different days, including August 6. In 1456, the Kingdom of Hungary repulsed an Ottoman invasion of the Balkans by breaking the Siege of Belgrade, news of the victory arrived in Rome on August 6. In 2002, Pope John Paul II selected the Transfiguration as one of the five Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, after the Reformation the Feast of the Transfiguration was abandoned in Germany, but continued to be observed in Sweden

34.
Pargev Martirosyan
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Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan is the current Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He had held the position since the re-establishment of the diocese in 1989, Martirosyan was born as Gurgen Martirosyan in the Soviet Azerbaijani city of Sumqayit in 1954 to an Armenian family from Chardakhly village. His family moved to Yerevan in 1966, in 1976 he graduated from the Yerevan Institute of Foreign Languages. Martirosyan later worked in Yeghegnut village school as a Russian language teacher, after which he was drafted to the Soviet army, from 1978 to 1980, he worked at the Ministry of Industry. In 1980 Martirosyan was admitted to the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in Ejmiatsin and he was ordained as a deacon in 1983. He finished the seminary in 1984 and continued his education at the Leningrad Theological Academy until 1986, caroline Cox, Baroness Cox described him as a man of considerable intellect, substance, humanity, as well as a man of faith. In 1985 he was ordained as a celibate priest and named Pargev, in April 1987 he was named vardapet. He taught at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, in 1987 he earned his doctoral degree in theology from the Leningrad Theological Academy. The same year he started serving at the Saint Hripsime Church, in November 1988 he was consecrated as bishop by Catholicos Vazgen I. In March 1989, he was appointed the primate of the newly created Diocese of Artsakh, in 1999 he was given the title of archbishop by Karekin I. Pargev Martirosyan was in Karabakh throughout the war with Azerbaijan, which ended in 1994, the Armenian forces marked their first major victory on 8–9 May 1992, when they took over Shusha, the historic center of the region. Archbishop Pargev blessed the Armenian soldiers before the start of the operation, on the morning of 9 May 1992 Archbishop Pargev with a number of Armenians soldiers entered the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, where they prayed for the fallen soldiers. It was the first time since the 1920 Shusha massacre that a prayer was heard at the cathedral, soon after the city was captured, restoration work began at Ghazanchetsots, which was used as an arsenal by the Azerbaijanis. Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan is an author of three books and a number of articles and essays, Archbishop Martirosyan has a 1st dan-ranked black belt in shotokan karate. He is the president of the Shotokan Karate Federation of Armenia

35.
Divine Liturgy
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Divine Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite which is the Rite of the The Great Church of Christ and was developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term. Some Oriental Orthodox employ the term holy offering for their Eucharistic liturgies instead, the term is sometimes applied also to Roman Rite Eucharistic liturgies, though the term Mass is more commonly used there. In Eastern traditions, those of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Divine Liturgy is seen as transcending time, all believers are believed to be united in worship in the Kingdom of God along with departed Saints and the celestial Angels. To this end, everything in the Liturgy is seen as symbolic, yet also not just merely symbolic, according to Eastern tradition and belief, the Liturgys roots go back to Jewish worship and the adaptation of Jewish worship by Early Christians. This can be seen in the first parts of the Liturgy termed the Liturgy of the Catechumens that includes reading of scriptures and, the latter half was added based on the Last Supper and the first Eucharistic celebrations by Early Christians. Each Liturgy has its differences from others, but most are similar to each other with adaptations based on tradition, purpose, culture. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, used on the 5 Sundays of Great Lent, on the eves of the Nativity and Theophany, and on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, it is celebrated as a vesperal liturgy. In some traditions, Saint Basils Liturgy is also celebrated on the Exaltation of the Life-giving Cross on September 14, all together, St. Basils liturgy is celebrated 10 times out of the liturgical year. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, is used during Great Lent on Wednesdays, Fridays, and a handful of other occasions, and also on the first three days of Holy Week. Nowadays it is celebrated as a vesperal liturgy, the Liturgy of the Faithful has no Anaphora. It is traditionally attributed to St. Gregory the Dialogist, although some believe it originated with Patriarch Severus of Antioch. The Liturgy of Saint Mark was also observed in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria on at least that Saints day until recent times. As numbers in a diocese increased dramatically the bishop as presiding over the Eucharistic assembly appointed presbyters as celebrant in the local community, still, the Church is understood in Eastern Orthodoxy not in terms of the presbyter, but the diocesan bishop. When the latter is present, he is chief celebrant, phrases and hymns are also added. The hierarch commemorates his hierarch demonstrating unity with the greater Orthodox community, note, Psalms are numbered according to the Greek Septuagint. For the Hebrew Masoretic numbering that is familiar in the West. The format of Divine Liturgy is fixed, although the specific readings and hymns vary with season, in modern times, this restriction applies only to Holy Communion — reception of the sacrament of holy communion

36.
Sebouh Chouldjian
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Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian is the metropolite of the Diocese of Gougark of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church. Archbishop Sebouh was born on March 24,1959 in Malatya and he received his primary education at the Nersisian College of Istanbul. In 1969, his family repatriated to Armenia and settled in the city of Gyumri, in 1978 he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1985, by the Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and he successfully defended his final thesis entitled The Translation Works of Lukas of Kharpert in March 1986. Upon his graduation from the seminary he was appointed to serve in the Secretariat of the Pontifical Administration and he was ordained as a celibate priest by Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian on June 7,1987, the Feast of Pentecost, and given the priestly name Sebouh. Following his ordination, he continued his service in the Pontifical Administration, by the appointment of Vazgen I, Catholicos of All Armenians, he served as the Vice Dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in September 1987. In November 1989, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled “The Fast in the Armenian Apostolic Church, ”. In 1990, Vazgen I appointed Father Sebouh to serve as the pastor of the Armenians of Geneva. He returned to Armenia in 1991 to serve as the Vicar of the Diocese of Shirak, after the Republic of Armenia gained independence, vast administrative tasks were placed on the Armenian Church. In the summer of 1993, Father Sebouh worked closely with Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, in June 1995, Father Sebouh was appointed to serve as the Director of the Reserve Stewardship Inventory Committee of the Armenian Church. In 1996, he served as the representative of the Armenian Church on the Humanitarian Aid Central Committee of the Republic of Armenia. On June 3,1996, by the Pontifical Encyclical of the Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians, Father Chouldjian was consecrated as bishop by Catholicos Karekin I on June 15,1997. He was a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Church during 2000–2007, on May 18,2012 he received title of Archbishop. Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian presently serves as the Primate of the Diocese of Gougark in Armenia, Bishop Sebouh Chouldjian was one of the three candidates for the Co-Patriarch at the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2010. Mesrop II Mutafyan, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease in July 2008 and this led the Armenian community to a painful condition of uncertainty. In late 2009, the Patriarchate’s Religious Council wrote to the Turkish government seeking permission to elect a coadjutor and he paid particular attention to the importance of dialogue among Armenians and between Turkish and Armenian people. On February 10–17,2010 Bishop Sebouh visited Istanbul, Turkey to have meetings with the Armenian community of Istanbul, during his meetings and interviews he urged to continue Hrant Dinks way and keep Armenian Patriarchate free from politics. On June 29,2010 the government of Turkey made a decision to reject the request of the Armenian community of Turkey to allow co-patriarch elections

37.
Karekin I
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Karekin I, served as the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 1994 and 1999. Previously, he served as the Catholicos of Cilicia from 1983 to 1994 as Karekin II, Karekin, born and baptized as Neshan Sarkissian, was born in Kesab, Syria, where he attended the Armenian elementary school. In 1946 he was admitted to the Theological Seminary of the Armenian Catholicate of Cilicia, in 1952, after having graduated with high honors, he was ordained a celibate priest and renamed Karekin. He joined the order of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, in 1955 he presented his doctoral thesis on the subject The Theology of the Armenian Church, According to Liturgical Hymns Sharakans and was promoted to the ecclesiastical degree of Vardapet. In next year he served as member of the faculty of the seminary in Antelias. He studied theology for two years at Oxford University and wrote The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church, published in 1965 in London, upon his return to Lebanon, he served as dean of the seminary. From 1963, he became an aide to Catholicos Khoren I in which function he had many ecumenical contacts and he served as observer at the Second Vatican Council, the Lambeth Conference of 1968 and the Addis Ababa Conference of the heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. He lectured on theology, literature, history and culture at universities in Beirut, Romania, Moscow and his ecclesiastical career advanced quickly, In 1963 he was elevated to senior archmandrite and on January 19,1964, consecrated bishop by Catholicos Khoren. In 1971 he was elected Prelate of the Diocese of New Julfa in Isfahan, Iran, in 1973, he received the rank of archbishop and was appointed Pontifical Legate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenias Holy Apostolic Church of America and in 1975 its Primate. During his time in the United States, he took care of the younger generation of Armenians. In 1977, he was elected Catholicos of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, when fully installed as Catholicos Karekin II of the Great House of Cilicia, he lavished special attention on religious education, modernizing and promoting the theological seminary. His pontifical visits took him to Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Cyprus, the United States and Canada, as well as Kuwait, another important facet of his Catholicosate were his ecumenical contacts. In 1989 he was elected president of the Middle East Council of Churches. He also made frequent visits to the Mother See of the Apostolic Church, in November 1998, Karekin I underwent cancer treatment in New York. He appointed archbishop Karekin Nersessian, later Karekin II, as Vicar General, Karekin I died in June 1999

38.
Collective wedding
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A collective wedding or mass wedding is a marriage ceremony in which several couples are married at the same time. In 324 BC Alexander the Great married Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius, in the same ceremony, he wed many of his leading officers and outstanding soldiers to other Persian women, about 80 couples in all. Today, these ceremonies are now performed in such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kurdistan, Palestine, South Korea. In 2011 a collective wedding ceremony in India involved 3,600 couples, including Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, many of them were the children of poor farmers. In the Philippines, mass civil or religious weddings are a common phenomenon, local politicians and sometimes celebrities participate as common wedding sponsors at such mass rites, which enable couples to benefit from formal state recognition of their unions. Parish churches also regularly offer collective Nuptial Masses for their low-income congregants, since 7 November 1960, under the guidance of Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Dawoodi Bohras have been conducting mass marriage events, at several venues, called Rasme Saifee. Currently the largest event is two days after the birthday of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin in Bombay. The first such mass marriage was held in Jamnagar, the event is now professionally looked after by the community organisation, International Taiseerun Nikah Committee. The Unification Church is known for holding weddings, which for some couples are marriage rededication ceremonies

39.
Gandzasar monastery
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Gandzasar monastery is a 10th to 13th century Armenian monastery situated in the Mardakert district of de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Gandzasar means treasure mountain or hilltop treasure in Armenian, the monastery holds relics believed to belong to St. John the Baptist and his father St Zechariah. Gandzasar is now the seat of the Archbishop of Artsakh appointed by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the monastery at Gandzasar was first mentioned in the tenth century. Gandzasar monastery became the headquarters of the Catholicosate of Aghvank, also known as the Holy See of Gandzasar, in the 16th century it became subordinate to the Etchmiadzin catholicosate. Many of its catholicoi were members of the Hasan-Jalal Dawla dynasty, the complex is protected by high walls. Within the complex is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the drum of its dome has exquisite bas-reliefs that depict the Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, and two ministers holding a model of the church above their heads as an offering to God. The bas-reliefs have been compared to the carvings of Aghtamar. Hovhannavank Monastery Harichavank Monastery Culture of Nagorno-Karabakh Yakobson, Anatoly L, “From the History of Medieval Armenian Architecture, the Monastery of Gandzasar, ” in, Studies in the History of Culture of the Peoples in the East. Gandzasar. com - Gandzasar Monastery, Nagorno Karabakh Republic Program about Gandzasar Monastery by Vem Radio

40.
Karekin II
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Catholicos Karekin II is the current Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2013 he was elected the head of the World Council of Churches for the next eight years. Karekin II was born as Ktrij Nersessian in Voskehat, Armenia and he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at Echmiadzin in 1965 and graduated with honors in 1971. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1970, later he became a monk and was ordained a priest in 1972. In the late 1970s the Catholicos of that encouraged him to study outside of Armenia. This led to him continuing his studies in Vienna, Bonn University, on October 23,1983, he was consecrated bishop at Echmiadzin. He became an archbishop in 1992, Karekin II speaks fluent German from his time in Germany and Austria. In 1975 during his time in Cologne he was the representative of nine Armenian congregations in Germany. In 1988 Karekin took a role in helping his people overcome the Armenian earthquake. He oversaw the construction of a number of churches and schools in Armenia and he also showed an interest in using modern technology and telecommunications to help the life of his churches as well as dealing with the legacies of the Soviet era. On 27 October 1999 he was elected the 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and his relations with Pope John Paul II were generally positive. When the Pope visited Armenia in 2001, he stayed with the Catholicos, in 2006 Karekin made a week-long visit to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and to visit the citys Armenian community. During his visit he caused controversy by speaking out about the Armenian Genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies, in October 2007, he began a second visit to the United States. On October 10,2007, he offered the prayer for the days session of the United States House of Representatives. His ecumenical trip to India to meet Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Catholicos of the East in November 2008, on 26 June 2016, Catholicos Karekin and Pope Francis signed a joint declaration on the family. The declaration also took note of various positive steps taken towards unity between the two churches, and acknowledged the successful new phase in relations between them. It also lamented immense tragedy of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, the Pope

41.
Serj Tankian
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Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born American singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet, and political activist with Armenian descent. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, a live orchestral version of Elect the Dead incorporating the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra named Elect the Dead Symphony was released. In 2002, Tankian and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Tankian also founded the music label Serjical Strike Records, and is represented by Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group under System of a Down. On August 12,2011, Tankian was awarded the Armenian Prime Ministers Medal for his contributions to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the advancement of music. He is widely considered and ranked as one of the greatest vocalists in metal history, with praise given to his unusual delivery, Serj Tankian is currently listed as one of the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader, ranked at #26. A study conducted by VVN Music found Tankian to possess a moderately-high and diverse range, not only in metal. This range is comparable to Rob Halford, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Anthony Kiedis, Hansi Kürsch, Tankian was born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Lebanon on August 21,1967. At age seven, he moved with his parents to Los Angeles, in his youth, he attended bilingual Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School, which was also attended by Tankians future System of a Down bandmates Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadjian. Tankian was accepted into California State University, Northridge and this is where Tankian first began to play instruments and write songs. The early beginnings of System of a Down lie in a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals & keyboards, Daron Malakian on vocals & lead guitar, Dave Hakopyan on bass, the band hired Shavo Odadjian as their then-manager but for him to later join as rhythm guitarist. Laranio and Hakopyan later left the band feeling that it was not going anywhere, after Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian and Malakian formed a new band they called System of a Down, after a poem Malakian wrote called Victims of a Down. The band quickly began touring the Southern California rock clubs, the band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums, three of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, in May 2006 the band announced they were going on hiatus. In an interview with Rolling Stone on January 8,2015, Tankians breakthrough as a solo artist came with the release of his debut record Elect the Dead. The first singles from Elect the Dead are The Unthinking Majority and Empty Walls, the music video Feed Us was released on the Swedish and UK MTV. Tankian appeared on MTVs You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect the Dead, a music video was directed and filmed for every song on the record, each by unique directors. Tankian explained, I asked each of the directors for their interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked, the results have been overwhelmingly amazing

42.
System of a Down
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System of a Down, sometimes shortened to SOAD or System, is an Armenian-American heavy metal band from Glendale, California, formed in 1994. The band currently consists of Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, the band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums, three of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, the group briefly disbanded in August 2006 and reunited in November 2010, embarking on a tour for the following three years. System of a Down has sold over 40 million records worldwide and they formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan on bass and Domingo Dingo Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist, in 1994, after only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio left the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere. After Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian, and Malakian formed a new band, the group took its name from a poem that Malakian had written titled Victims of a Down. Odadjian switched from guitar to bass and passed on his duties to Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group. The band recruited drummer Ontronik Andy Khachaturian, an old friend of Malakians and Odadjians who had played with Malakian in a band called Snowblind during their teens. In early 1995, System played as Soil at the Cafe Club Fais Do-Do, Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996. At the beginning of 1997, System of a Down recorded their final publicly released demo tape, in mid-1997, drummer Khachaturian left the band because of a hand injury. Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan, the bands first official release of a professionally recorded song was on a collection called Hye Enk, an Armenian Genocide recognition compilation, in 1997. Soon after playing at notable Hollywood clubs such as the Whisky-A-Go-Go, showing great interest, the group recorded Demo Tape 4 near the end of 1997. Unlike the previous demo tapes, however, Demo Tape 4 was made only to be sent to record companies, also in 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band Award from the Rock City Awards. In June 1998, System of a Down released their debut album and they enjoyed moderate success as their first singles Sugar and Spiders became radio favorites and the music videos for both songs were frequently aired on MTV. After the release of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for Slayer, following Ozzfest, they toured with Fear Factory and Incubus before headlining the Sno-Core Tour with Puya, Mr. Bungle, The Cat and Incubus providing support. In November 1998, System of a Down appeared on South Parks Chef Aid album, near the end of the song Tankian can be heard saying, Why must we kill our own kind. A line that would later be used in the song Boom, although System of a Down is credited on the album, South Park character Chef does not introduce them as he does every other artist featured on the record. System of a Downs former drummer, Ontronik Khachaturian, briefly reunited with the band at a show at The Troubadour in 1999, in 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song Snowblind to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2

43.
Kyrie
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Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek Κύριε, vocative case of Κύριος, is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison /ˈkiːri. eɪ ᵻˈleɪ. ᵻsɒn/. In John 13,13, John reports Jesus as saying You call Me Teacher and Lord, the prayer, Kyrie, eleison, Lord, have mercy derives from several New Testament verses in particular. In Matthew 15,22, the Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus, Have mercy on me, O Lord, in Matthew 20,30,31, two unnamed blind men call out to Jesus, Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David. Finally, in Mark 10,46, Blind Bartimaeus cries out, Jesus, Τhe phrase Kýrie, eléison, or one of its equivalents in other languages, is one of the most oft-repeated phrases in Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine-Rite Eastern Christianity. The various litanies, frequent in that rite, generally have Lord, have mercy as their response, some petitions in these litanies will have twelve or even forty repetitions of the phrase as a response. The phrase is the origin of the Jesus Prayer, beloved by Christians of that rite, the biblical roots of this prayer first appear in 1 Chronicles 16,34. give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever. The prayer is simultaneously a petition and a prayer of thanksgiving, an acknowledgment of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do. It is refined in the Parable of The Publican, God, have mercy on me, a sinner, which shows more clearly its connection with the Jesus Prayer. Since the early centuries of Christianity, the Greek phrase, Kýrie, eléison, is extensively used in the Coptic Christian liturgy. In the cultures of East Slavs, its adaptation also gave rise to the word of gratitude through a rough interpretation Save, in Rome, the sacred Liturgy was first celebrated in Greek. At some point the Roman Mass was translated into Latin, jungmann explains at length how the Kyrie in the Roman Mass is best seen as a vestige of a litany at the beginning of the Mass, like that of some Eastern churches. As early as the century, Pope Gregory the Great notes that there were differences in the way in which eastern and western churches sang Kyrie. In the eastern churches all sing it at the time, whereas in the western church the clergy sing it. Also the western church sang Christe eleison as many times as Kyrie eleison, in the Roman Rite liturgy, a variant, Christe, eléison, a transliteration of Greek Χριστέ, ἐλέησον, is introduced. Kyrie, eleison may also be used as a response of the people to intentions mentioned in the Prayer of the Faithful, since 1549, Anglicans have normally sung or said the Kyrie in English. In the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, the Kyrie was inserted into a recitation of the Ten Commandments, modern revisions of the Prayer Book have restored the option of using the Kyrie without the Commandments. Other denominations also, such as Lutheranism, use Kyrie, eleison in their liturgies, in the Tridentine Mass form of the Roman Rite, Kýrie, eléison is sung or said three times, followed by a threefold Christe, eléison and by another threefold Kýrie, eléison. In the Paul VI Mass form, each invocation is made only once by the celebrating priest or by a cantor, with a repetition, each time

The Russian Empire (Russian: Россійская Имперія) was an empire that existed from 1721, following the end of the Great …

Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia as the Russian Empire in 1721 and became its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.